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Furrow Spider

Larinioides cornutus

Photography by: Steve-Fox - Goodrich, Michigan

Photography by: N/A

Due to a loss of information when my laptop was sentenced to death by coffee, I have not completely figured out who sent me each picture. If you find a picture is one you sent me and it is missing the info or has the wrong info, please contact me and let me know.

One of the more interesting spiders is the Garden Orb Weaver. It will come out at around dusk every evening and sit calmly in the center of its web, always with its head towards the ground. When it is not in its web, it will hide a short ways away from the web with a single trigger line attached, so it can feel the vibrations if the web is disturbed by prey. If the web should happen to be knocked down in the day, the Garden orb Weaver will just rebuild a new one in the same place. One interesting fact is that the first web they build is always their most perfect web. Every time they have to rebuild the web, there will be more and more flaws in the construction. Which really blows the whole “Practice makes perfect” cliché out of the water.

Description – The abdomen of the Furrow Spider is nearly twice the size of the cephalothorax when it is at its largest. Usually of an off-white or light brown coloring with a distinct pattern which runs down the middle.

Size – The body of the adult female will grow to about ¾ of an inch (20mm) and with the legs included, can reach nearly 1 ¼” (32mm) across.

Eye pattern – The Orb weaver has eight eyes, but to the human eye, if you can see them at all, the Garden Orb Weaver looks to have only six eyes. They seem to have a row of four eyes across the bottom and a pair of eyes in the center, just above the four. However, the outer eyes of the row of four are actually a set of two eyes on each side arranged very close together.

Web –Orb Weavers spin a web that is circular like a vertical net meant for catching flying insects. There are a few reports stating that in the mornings, that some Orb Weaver have been observed, eating their webs before hiding away for the day.

Bites – At its worst, the bite of any Garden Orb Weaver is no worse than a bee sting. The symptoms are almost, always, negligible, but on a rare occasion, will cause mild pain and local swelling.